Shadows
by Talisa
Summary: Action, adventure, and spies!
1. A Little Bit of Remembering

Warning: This has my idea of what really happened the night Frankie died but it's nothing you wouldn't normally see; i.e. nothing real descriptive.  
  
Author's Note: Incase you notice, Bianca's written a bit more adventurous than she normally would be, but she had to that way for this to work.  
  
"Yea, so I was just sitting in the waiting room with Opal when I looked over at her little butterfly broach and I got this sharp pain in my head. Then these images flashed through my head." I explained.  
  
"Really. What were the images of?" Leo questioned.  
  
"Mostly old ones of me a Frankie, but I think there were a couple from the night she was murdered."  
  
"Hmmm. That's weird. And they just came from looking at Opal's broach. I wondered if that was what triggered it."  
  
"Well, if it was, I wanna look at the broach some more." I laughed quietly.  
  
"Did you tell Opal?" Leo asked.  
  
"No, she already almost freaked out and for some reason I think she's helping my mother keep something from me. I am not quite sure, though." I looked towards Leo, who had leaned back in one of the chairs with his cup of hot cocoa.  
  
"What would they keep from you?" He took another sip.  
  
"I have absolutely no idea. It's just this feeling I have. I have to remember that night because for, some reason, everybody doesn't want me to." I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair, still frustrated beyond belief. There I sat in thought until I heard a commotion coming from the front door. I looked to where Leo was a minute ago to find him not there. I stood up and headed for the Myrtle's door to see the problem was. I found Leo talking to two officers in the foyer.  
  
"Yea, that's nice. But she's sleeping right now, you guys don't need to keep pestering her with stupid questions, so get lost." He told them, trying to usher them out the door.  
  
"Leo?" He turned to face me, a little shocked.  
  
"Bianca Montgomery?" One of them asked, looking directly at me.  
  
"Yes. Who wants to know?" I walked over and stood next to Leo.  
  
"Officer Bryant. I am sorry miss. But the DA told me I should find you and ask you a couple of questions?" He stepped farther into the foyer, while Leo looked like he was going to sock him. I placed one hand in front of Leo, stopping him from pummeling the officer.  
  
"I'm listening." I looked back the officer.  
  
"Well, the finger print report came back from Miss Stone's room. Yours, apparently, were all over the place." He stated. Leo laughed.  
  
"Umm, Officer Bryant, it's public knowledge that I'd been in "Miss Stone's" room various times. I don't see the point." Leo placed a supportive hand on my shoulder.  
  
"Yea, but these prints came from the shower in the bathroom." He told me, as a matter of fact-ly. I was dumbfounded. I didn't remember ever taking a shower at Frankie's.  
  
"Maybe the DA, who's also her uncle, didn't tell you but Bianca had a riding accident the same night. So she can't remember a thing, so I think we're done here." Leo retorted on my behalf. I just stared out at the officer's badge. It was so shiny. He pushed the officers out the door, but it was too late. The pain shot through my head as I felt myself pass out.  
  
FLASH  
  
Bianca walks into Frankie's room and finds her sitting on the edge of her bed, crying. She looks up; see Bianca, and immediately jumps to her feet.  
  
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Frankie tells Bianca.  
  
"Yea, well. I'm not one to assume the worst of people without explanation, even though I think in this situation I think I assumed right." Bianca stood very still staring at the fragile form of Frankie, still wrapped up in a sheet.  
  
"Bianca, I just." Frankie started.  
  
"You what? Thought it'd be fun to go sleep with some random guy? Well, tell me, was it?" Bianca retorted.  
  
"No. It wasn't like that."  
  
"Then what was it like Frankie? I really want to know."  
  
"Bianca. We've been through this before, I need to control myself, and when I with you; I'm not in total control." Frankie tried to explain.  
  
"Well then, who is? Because I'd really like to know who I've been with for the last few weeks."  
  
"My heart. I can't control my heart when I am with you. It takes control, and I just can't stop it. That's why I get high and I guess that's why I was with that guy. I had to regain control of my heart."  
  
"And did you? Did your heart like being with that boy instead of me, cause I bet you did."  
  
"NO. I didn't like, and neither did my heart. That's what I realized when you walked in. I felt my heart being ripped from my body when you turned on the lights. That's love. I love you, Bianca. I know I've completely wrecked what we had and you don't even want to look at me right now. But you have to look at me and realize that much is true. I love you, heart and soul." Frankie grabbed Bianca's arm and stared straight in her eyes.  
  
"Yea. I can see that. But it still doesn't change what you've done." She yanked her arm back from Frankie's grip.  
  
"No, it doesn't, but it does change us." Bianca realizes what she's trying to say.  
  
"You don't think I still want you after everything you've done, do you?" Bianca asked her.  
  
"Oh you don't, okay." Frankie starts to walk to the door, smiling.  
  
"Okay, okay. So I still want you. So what?" Bianca stops her.  
  
"Well, first you have to do one thing for me."  
  
"What's that?" Frankie walks over to her placing a passionate kiss on Bianca's lips.  
  
FLASH  
  
I woke up to come face to face with Leo. He smiled and slowly helped me sit up on the couch.  
  
"What? What happened?" I asked him, holding my head.  
  
"After the cops left you passed out. Was it like when you were with Opal? Did you remember something?" He asked as he handed me a glass of water.  
  
"Uh, I think so, I am not quite sure. I was either remembering another piece of what happened or I was having a really nice hallucination." I laughed, shaking my head to the glass of water.  
  
"Why? What did you see?" He put the glass of water down on the table.  
  
"Oh let's just say I think the police officer was right." 


	2. A Fishy Phone Call

"Huh?" Leo looked totally confused.  
  
"I'm pretty sure that was a memory and if it was correct. I think the night Frankie was killed, I went back to her room before she was killed and we made up." I told him raising my eyebrows.  
  
"Wha? Oh." He said as he got the hint and laughed.  
  
"Well, at least something went right that night." The phone rang behind me and Leo picked it up.  
  
"Hello? Oh hi. Yea, she's right here." He turned back to me.  
  
"It's for you. I think its Chris." He handed me the phone.  
  
"Hello?" I said into the receiver.  
  
"Hello, Bianca." A distinct voice responded. It was Chris.  
  
"Oh, hi Chris. Is my mother alright?"  
  
"Yea, she's fine. I was just wondering if you would meet me somewhere. I'd like to talk to you about you mother some more." He asked. I guess I must have made a funny face; cause Leo mouthed "What?" to me. I held one finger up, telling him to wait a second.  
  
"I guess. Sure. Where?"  
  
"Well, I just left your mother and I'm heading toward the Enchantment parking lot. You wanna meet me there?"  
  
"Okay. I'll be right there. Bye." I replaced the phone on the hook and looked at Leo.  
  
"What was that all about?" He asked.  
  
"I am going to go meet Chris. He wants to "talk" about my mother. He probably just wants to convince me to forgive her, which isn't going to happen. I guess I have to go." I walked to the coat rack and put on my coat.  
  
"What's wrong?" He asked.  
  
"Nothing." I covered.  
  
"Bull. I know that look Bianca. There's something wrong. You can't get anything past me." He smiled.  
  
"It's just he sounded anxious, a little too anxious to talk to me. I guess it's just me, though. A little paranoia too mess up my already messed up head." I opened the door.  
  
"Oh it's not that messy." He ran a rampant hand through my hair completely messing up my hair.  
  
"Leo!" I laughed.  
  
"Hey, be careful." He warned as he gave the top of my head a protective kiss.  
  
"I will." 


	3. Filling In the Blanks

When I reached the parking lot underneath the Enchantment building, Chris was nowhere in sight. I walked around the lot till I spotted him coming out one of the elevator doors.  
  
"Chris." He turned at the sound of my voice.  
  
"Bianca." He called, as I got closer.  
  
"Hi. So what did you want to talk about?" I asked as I reached him.  
  
"Why don't we walk and talk?" He led me away from the elevators.  
  
"As you know, I am your mother's lawyer for her trial, well I was wondering if you had regained any of your memory yet? It could really help the case." He placed one very awkward hand on my shoulder as we stopped at one of pillars in the middle of the parking lot.  
  
"Not that I really want to help defend my mother, but no, I haven't remembered anything about how Frankie's was killed." I shrugged off his hand.  
  
"Oh, good. Well." I looked up at the light as that sharp pain hit my head again.  
  
FLASH  
  
Bianca, stepping out of the running shower for a second to grab a towel, hears a commotion coming from the room. Not wanting to disturb Frankie, she peeks through the crack between the wall and the door and starts to listen.  
  
"You lost your focus, Stone. I want you out." A pissed off Chris Stamp tells Frankie.  
  
"Whatever. I can get her back." She retorts stepping between him and the door.  
  
"No, your assignment was to keep Bianca occupied and away from her mother while I work on Erica." Chris points a strict finger at Frankie.  
  
"And I did. Besides the little intervals Erica's temper had with me, she hasn't even gone near Erica, unless Erica organized it, which in that case, I can't help. My assignment is fine."  
  
"No, quite the opposite. I hope you don't forget you little heart felt phone call to Erica saying you lost your target? Your assignment went from fine to obliterated. Hello, you slept with some other guy. What you couldn't keep your libido in check? You failed. You know what you have to do now."  
  
"NO! There's absolutely no way I am going to kill her. You can just forget that." Chris went to the bed, lifted a corner of the mattress up and pulled out a gun.  
  
"You're the one who screwed up your assignment, now you know what comes next. Someone who works for someone as powerful as Proteus should learn how follow my orders; now do it." He handed her gun.  
  
"No. I am not going to." She tossed the gun onto the bed. Bianca leaned a bit more into the door as it creaked open.  
  
"What's that?" Chris asked as he eagerly eyed the bathroom door while Frankie looked just plain panicked.  
  
"Nothing." She pushed him back from where he was heading towards the door.  
  
"I thought you were just preparing to take a shower, but this makes things a bit more interesting." He pulled his gun out from behind his back.  
  
"No. She's not in there. Just forget it." Frankie pleaded against him.  
  
"If your not going to take care of her I will. Bianca? Bianca, are you in there?" He called out. Frankie looked scared as she reached over for her gun, trying to protect Bianca. BANG! A shot rang out. Bianca gasped as she watched Frankie's body crash to the floor. Chris just laughed.  
  
"Bianca? It's time to come out here. I have something big and silver and fast for you." He snickered. Panic-stricken, Bianca looked around for an alternate means of exit. Coming up with nothing, she looked back at Chris, who had dropped his gun near Frankie and picked up hers as he headed for the bathroom door. Suddenly he stopped, not moving, he listened, then replaced Frankie's gun into his belt and made a hasty retreat to the door.  
  
"We'll continue this later, Bianca." He called to her as he shut the door.  
  
FLASH  
  
I looked up at Chris, who was staring at me with his less than friendly eyes.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"You. killed her. My mother didn't kill Frankie, you did." I told him. His eyes lit up as he reached behind his back and pulled a gun on me. 


	4. The Spy

"I was hoping you'd remember so I could finish you." He smiled. I jumped back into the pillar.  
  
"Frankie may have sacrificed her life to save that night, but no one's going to save you now." He lowered the gun at my head.  
  
"Wrong, Chris." A female voice behind him said. I looked past him to see Anna Devane holding her own gun at his head.  
  
"Devane. What are you doing here?" She maneuvered past him and came to sand next to me.  
  
"I told you, you were my number one suspect. And from what I've been able to collect from Mateo, Roger and other sources; you just proved my point."  
  
"You don't have to balls to shoot me." He stated.  
  
"Oh really." She fired once near his feet. He jumped. But while she was caught up in her triumph he attacked and knocked the gun from her hands.  
  
"See I told you." He smiled.  
  
"Now it's time to kill two annoying birds with two bullets." He fired, but Anna pushed us out of the line of fire and onto the ground. He fired again and I felt something rip through my thigh.  
  
"Run!" Anna yelled behind me. I didn't need to be told twice. I got up and started to run, well if you could call what I was doing running, and I followed her to a car outside the parking.  
  
"Get in!" She commanded. I opened the door a jumped into the passenger seat. She got in the driver's side and started the car. I looked out the window and saw Chris about thirty feet away. He raised his gun and prepared to fire.  
  
"Duck!" I yelled as I reached over to Anna and pushed her head down just a bullet ripped through my window and hers.  
  
"Thanks." She whispered to me as she put the car in drive and we sped off.  
  
We drove away from Enchantment and I watched as my mother's building got smaller and smaller. When at last I couldn't see the building anymore, I looked down at my throbbing leg, which was gushing blood.  
  
"Oh my God." I exclaimed. Anna looked over at me and gasped.  
  
"Shit. I didn't think he would hit you." She lowered one hand from the steering wheel to her stomach and I concluded that he had hit her too.  
  
"Mine's not too bad, but are you okay?" I watched her as she removed the hand from her stomach; which was covered in blood.  
  
"I guess not." I concluded as I took my jacket off and put over her stomach to try and stop the bleeding.  
  
"We can't go to a hospital, he'll find us." She stated.  
  
"So, then can we find a doctor we can trust?" I asked her still pressing my coat down on her stomach.  
  
"Yea. I think I know someone." She told me, as she pressed harder on the gas pedal. 


	5. The Medic

We pulled up in front of a quaint little cabin in the woods. I got out of the car and hobbled over to her door and lifted her out as helped her to the door.  
  
"I just hope he's home." I knocked on the door as I balanced her weight on one of my shoulders. From inside the house came a voice,  
  
"Who is it?" A masculine voice asked.  
  
"David, it's Anna. Open the door." A few seconds later the door opened and a smiling David Hayward appeared. But the smile quickly disappeared, as he looked the two of us up and down.  
  
"What happened?" He asked as he stepped back from the doorway to let us in.  
  
"Chris Stamp." I said abruptly, assuming the only reason Anna brought us here was that her suspicions on Chris were shared with David. David still looked confused as I slid Anna onto one of his chairs.  
  
"The asshole was about to kill Bianca, so I kind of came to her rescue. If you could call it a rescue." She explained to him.  
  
"Hey, I'm not dead am I? I'd chalk that up to a rescue." I reassured her when I backed into another chair nearby to let David do his job. He lifted up her shirt to examine the wound. He let out a sigh of relief and turned to face me.  
  
"Bianca, do you think you could go to the bathroom and get me a wet washcloth? I need to wipe away some of this excess blood." I nodded and propped myself up and started to hobble towards the bathroom.  
  
"I think you'll be fine. It looks like the bullet just grazed you." He told her as I reached the bathroom door. I looked in a couple of drawers before finding a couple of washcloths. I went over to the sink and wet them. I looked up into the medicine cabinet mirror and gasped at the sight of myself. David must have had a heart attack when he answered the door. My face was covered with a mixture of blood, dirt and ash. Not wanting to take the time washing it off, I took the washcloths back to David, who had set up a first aid kit next to Anna.  
  
"Thanks Bianca." He told me taking the washcloths from me, keeping his eyes on Anna. He wiped away the blood and he was right; it looked like the bullet just grazed her stomach. He bandaged her up and gave her a couple of aspirin.  
  
"Now for my next patient." He turned to me and smiled.  
  
"So why was he going to shoot you?" Anna leaned over David's shoulder as he assessed the best way to access my wound.  
  
"I remembered what happened the night my friend was murdered." David took out a pocketknife and started to cut away the jean material from my leg.  
  
"You remembered what happened to Frankie?" David questioned, though Anna looked confused.  
  
"His cousin. Yea, Chris shot her and was going to shoot me next but someone scared him off that night." David looked over my exposed leg.  
  
"Looks like the bullet went right though but didn't hit anything major." He said to nobody in particular.  
  
"Why did Chris kill Frankie?" Anna continued, ignoring David's comment.  
  
"Well, from what I remember, she worked for him and her 'assignment' was to keep me busy while Chris went after my mother. When we had a fight and she slept with JR, he told her she had failed him and she was going to have to kill me to redeem herself. She told him that wasn't going to happen and that's about when he realized I was listening from the bathroom. He was going to kill me himself, but Frankie stopped him by sacrificing her own life. Then he heard something as he was coming for me so he left me to deal with later." I told her. David wrapped my leg with a bandage and some tape.  
  
"I guess that'll have to do for now. You two are really lucky that you weren't hurt worse." He closed his first aid kit and stood up.  
  
"Ha, I was right." Anna exclaimed. David and I looked over to her.  
  
"Chris has got to be Proteus; Frankie's must have been one of his drug runners that was sent to 'occupy' Bianca while Chris moved in on Erica. And." She took a deep breath.  
  
"He started to use Enchantment to ship his drugs and 'employed' Roger and Mateo to do random jobs for him. But I suspect Mateo and Hayley must be playing him; trying to take him down too. That has to be it." She finished.  
  
"So what do you propose we do with all this information Anna?" David asked her.  
  
"Well, I was thinking maybe you could 'observe' Chris and see what his doing or saying about the two of us; and maybe Bianca could; since she'll have to be in hiding for her own protection, could discreetly follow Mateo, see where he's meeting Hayley and suggest that we join forces. While I see if I can collect any more information on Chris from Ryan."  
  
"Wow, did you just plan that off the top of your head?" I asked her, amazed by her tenacity.  
  
"Yea, sort of."  
  
"I don't think Bianca should play a part in this very risky plan of yours, Anna." David interjected.  
  
"Why not?" Anna and I said simultaneously.  
  
"She's sort of young and with Chris trying to kill her, well, I just don't think it'll be safe."  
  
"I am fine. I want to do my part and I can avoid Chris. It won't be that hard. He'll still be 'occupied' with my mother."  
  
"Yes, I agree. You'll be perfect." Anna told me, while receiving dirty looks from David.  
  
"But I think I might need some different clothes." I told them, looking down to the dirt and blood covered rags I had been left with.  
  
"Yes, something a bit less conspicuous, perhaps." Anna concluded. 


	6. Walking Into the Hiding Place

After borrowing some extra clothes from Anna, I was ready to begin my assignment. I felt all secret agent in the sense that one, I was actually sitting next to one and there was a man out there somewhere looking to off me. Not that the later was good; it just kind of gave me a buzz of excitement I so rarely often felt. It was kind of cool if I thought about it minus, the assassin part.  
  
"Okay, here we are. Remember; don't follow too far away but don't let him see you either. Always stick to the shadows. He'll be with his 'mistress' for awhile but I have it on good authority that he'll be meeting Hayley after he leaves SOS." She explained. I nodded in agreement and got out of the car.  
  
"Bianca." She called once more.  
  
"Yea?" I leaned on inside the window.  
  
"Good luck and be careful. I'll meet you outside the Valley Inn when you're done." I nodded again, leaned back and watched her leave. There I stood in the alley across the street from the entrance for about twenty minutes when Mateo and another woman exited SOS, laughing and kissing; it was quite disgusting. Finally they parted and heard him tell her he had to go. She pouted a bit for show but then gave him a last goodbye kiss and left. I watched as Mateo wrapped himself up in his coat, looked around a bit and then headed down an adjacent alley. I waited a few seconds then followed, being careful to keep at least twenty to twenty-five feet back from him. I guess he was too busy thinking about Hayley because I could've sworn that I made at least a couple of noises that would've made him turn around. A right, a left and straight 'till he reached a bent up fence, straight through that, and into a little crook in a brick wall was the route I followed him through. It was almost a little labyrinth of turns and straights, but finally I heard saw a light and heard some voices up ahead. I waited around the corner to see if it was actually Hayley he was meeting or to find out Anna's information was totally bogus.  
  
"You got some more information on Proteus honey? Wow, that's great." I heard Mateo. So Anna was right, they were trying to bag him by themselves, but they still didn't know it was Chris.  
  
"Yea, it pays off to have friends who know people." I heard Hayley reply.  
  
"Now we just have to figure out who the hell she or he is."  
  
"Chris Stamp." I answered as I rounded the corner, walking into their little hiding place.  
  
"Bianca?" They said in unison rather loudly, jumping away from each other.  
  
"Shhhhh! And you don't have to do that you know. We are so on to you guys," I rolled my eyes and laughed.  
  
"Who's we?" Hayley asked, defensively.  
  
"Anna, David and I."  
  
"David Hayward?" Mateo looked shocked.  
  
"Yea, don't ask he's going out with Anna or something. Whatever, we figured out you guys were playing Chris or Proteus, whatever you want to call him."  
  
"So, why do you guys think its Chris?" Hayley stepped towards me; I guess it was a sign of partial trust.  
  
"Well, basically, 'cause he tried to kill me." I received gasps from both of them.  
  
"Oh, why?" Mateo now stood next to his wife.  
  
"Cause I remembered that he killed Frankie, who was apparently one of his drug runners. Long story, but with my riding accident I didn't remember 'till a while ago. That's when he tried to kill me; again actually. So I kind of joined the fight to bring him down; I guess. I; I mean Anna thought it would be a good idea if we joined forces; you guys and us, you know, since you're only two people and all." I explained to them.  
  
"Well, we're not exactly just two people." Mateo answered.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Edmund and Brooke know about us and the whole Proteus thing too. Actually they are doing a story on it." Hayley explained.  
  
"What? People were shot at and some were even murdered; and they're doing a story on it? Oh my God." I put my head in my hands. 


	7. The Chat

"Well, that explains the profile of Proteus going after women CEO's." Hayley said, ignoring me and picking up a file from a crate nearby.  
  
"My mom." I filled in the blank. I looked at my watch.  
  
"Well, I need to go. But David can be your contact for further information. Anna and I are going to go into hiding since Chris is still after us. Good luck." I waved to them and went back to SOS to find Leo coming out. I was going to have to have him cover for me if I was ever going to go successfully into hiding from Chris.  
  
"Leo." I whispered to him from the shadow of the alley he was walking by.  
  
"Bianca?" He turned towards my voice.  
  
"No, don't look. Make it look like you're looking for something in your pockets." He followed my orders, a puzzled look etched on his face.  
  
"I can't explain everything to you right now but, Chris is trying to kill me because some thing I finally remembered. All you have to know right now is this; whenever someone is looking for me, especially Chris, tell them I went camping to clear my head. Please do this for me, Leo. I'll tell you the rest later."  
  
"Okay. I'll cover for you Bianca, but you have to tell me absolutely everything when it's done, okay?" He mumbled, still searching his pockets.  
  
"Yea, okay. Thanks Leo, you're the best."  
  
"I know, I know." He pulled out his keys and left.  
  
I know it's short but there's still lots left. 


	8. The Shadows

Walking to the Valley Inn in the cover of the shadows was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. To say one thing; headlights suck. Everytime someone would drive by; I would have to stop and make sure his or her lights didn't shine on me. When I finally reached an alley near the hotel I didn't see Anna's car anywhere in sight but then I felt a tap on my shoulder. Crossing my fingers that it was Anna, who was just testing my reflexes and not Chris preparing to shoot me; I turned slowly around, preparing to punch them and run if need be. But it was neither of them; to my surprise, it was Edmund.  
  
"Bianca." My hands dropped to my sides.  
  
"Thank God. I thought you were Chris for a minute there." I gave him a big hug.  
  
"Yea, Mateo told me everything. Wow, you're doing a great job at this whole mini spy thing." He laughed.  
  
"Well, it's more for self-preservation than fun right now, but I have to admit this is kind of exhilarating in an odd kind of way."  
  
"Now you're starting to sound like Anna."  
  
"You say that like it's a bad thing, Edmund." Anna walked up behind Edmund, coming to stand next to me again.  
  
"Anna." He started.  
  
"What are you doing here, anyways?" She asked him.  
  
"Uh, that's what I was coming to tell you. He and Brooke are doing an expose for Tempo on Proteus." I interrupted. She looked at Edmund with daggers in her eyes.  
  
"What do you have a death wish or something?"  
  
"You knew I was doing a story on him or her for that matter, don't look so shocked." He tried to calm her.  
  
"Yea, but I thought you had enough common sense to drop it. Of all the stupid things you could do.and you got Brooke mixed up in this too, wow. I really thought you were smarter than that." She started to walk away, motioning for me to follow.  
  
"He's helping Mateo, that's how I knew." I added as she stopped and turned toward him.  
  
"So we're not only adding a man and his wife, but two reporters too; great. Who's next?" She threw her hands up in the air and I started to follow her into the car.  
  
"You didn't see us or speak to us, got it?" She instructed to him, leaning out the window.  
  
"Yea, I got it." He replied as we sped off once again. 


	9. My Resolve Face

"Okay, this is going to be harder to maneuver than I thought. Well." Anna stared out at the road.  
  
"What? Do you have a plan again?" I asked her as we reached David's cabin.  
  
"Yea. Well, at least the start of one. But it's going to get tricky now that there's more and more people involved by the minute." She walked into the cabin that was totally empty. David was probably still at work.  
  
"Why don't you tell me it and I can see if I can help you with it?" She seemed to consider her options for a moment but the finally smiled.  
  
"Yea, why not? You're a bright girl. What I was thinking was we could corner Chris at the Crystal Ball. I mean before all these people got involved, I was thinking maybe somehow we could trick Chris into spilling the beans or something."  
  
"I don't know if he's going to the ball for sure, though." I interjected.  
  
"Why wouldn't he? It'd be the perfect time to see all the misery he's created." She sat up from the chair she sat in.  
  
"Well, if he's still trying to get in good with my mom, he'll be at home with her. She got a little tracker anklet that allows her only to go from home to Enchantment and back again. I doubt she'll be going to Wildwind."  
  
"Ah, good thinking. Then we'll have to lure him there, then. Hmmm.you don't think your mom would watch the TV coverage of the Crystal Ball, do you?" She asked.  
  
"Yea, probably. This will be the first time she hasn't gone. And after last year, well, let's just say I think she'll be watching."  
  
"Why? What happened last year?"  
  
"Oh nothing in particular. Nevermind, ask David. I don't feel like talking about it. But she'll be watching it." I smiled.  
  
"Okay. Well, that will work to our advantage then, if everything goes according to plan."  
  
"What do you have in mind?"  
  
"I was thinking, with the help of our little co-host partner here, we could maybe walk behind Hayley or something. And if, in fact, your mom does watch the TV coverage, Chris will be there and see us. Thinking this would be a perfect ending to two annoying birds like us." She laughed.  
  
"He'll come and, well, one swift call to the cops will take care of the rest. That is if we can gather everything else. There will be so many people listening at the Ball, he won't be able to shoot us all."  
  
"I like the way you think. And the whole thing's poetic all at the same time. Caught by his ego, that'll be hilarious. What do we have to gather?" I was in plan mode now; there was no stopping me. My resolve face was on; Chris was going to pay. 


	10. Saying Thanks

Once the plan expanded on a bit more and was explained to all included parties and information was collected, everyone was finally ready. The critical information had just been collected; Anna had somehow tricked Chris into something he could not take back. I was still staying at David's cabin with Anna the day before the ball when David came back from work with three large plastic bags filled with God knows what.  
  
"David?" Anna got up from the card game we were playing on the bed.  
  
"Hey. Look what I got for us." He walked down the small set of stairs and towards the bed.  
  
"What is it?" I asked cleaning the cards off the bed as he set the bags on the bed.  
  
"Something for you girls." He beamed.  
  
"Hmmm, I wonder what it could be?" Anna motioned for me to open the bag.  
  
"I just thought you could use something for the ball." I opened the bag that was laid on top. It was a tux.  
  
"Whoops, that's for me." He picked up the bag. I shook my head and started to open the second one.  
  
"Oh my goodness. It's gorgeous David." Anna exclaimed. I handed her the dress that was definently not for me and started opening the next one. It was the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen. It was sort of a metallic black thin-strapped floor length dress that shone kind of a greenish-blue when moved around. I looked over at Anna's; it was sort of a sleek modern dress in total black but also floor length with a strap on one side and what looked to be the remnants of a sleeve on the other. She was hugging David; apparently she liked her dress too.  
  
"I was thinking you could wear running shoes underneath, you know, if need be." Anna slapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"There's the David I know; always thinking practical before fashion." She laughed.  
  
"What do you expect? He's a doctor, not to mention a man." Laughing seemed to make my nerves settle down for once; though Anna said it's always good to be on your toes. I guess this was a well need break from the anxiety about the day ahead. I suppose the feelings would compare to those of the days before a championship basketball game or something of great importance like that. David told us that in the morning he would double-check with everybody about what exactly they were to do when the time came tomorrow night, and the rest of the night we relaxed, ate pizza, and watched some movie David had rented. I forget the title or what it was about but it made me laugh the night where I thought doing something like that would never happen. The next morning I spent the day with Anna; again, not that I minded at all. I liked the way she talked me or about me, for that matter; like I was a competent well-adjusted adult who could be trusted not only with secrets but to do something other people sometimes couldn't. She talked to me like my ideas mattered and sometimes even made adjustments according to my advice; which was a rare occurrence to happen in my life. We were at the cabin, which had almost become like a third or fourth home to me after Wildwind and Myrtle's, while David was still out double- checking. She spent pretty much the whole day teaching me some basic self- defense moves that she had learned in her days as a spy.  
  
"Thanks again." I told her after she had finished. I went and got a bottle of water for each of us from the fridge.  
  
"For what? The defense moves? They were nothing. Everyone should have basic knowledge on how to defend themselves." She took the bottle of water from me and sat down in one of the chairs.  
  
"Yea those. But thanks for everything else, too." She looked confused.  
  
"Well, I mean thanks for, well, saving my life for one thing." She smiled.  
  
"No problem. All in a days work."  
  
"Definite gratitude over here, but there's other stuff, too." I took a sip.  
  
"Like?"  
  
"Treating me like an adult, for another thing. I found that's very rare in my life. Most people just want to protect me from the world all the time and I know you want to protect us from Chris but you also let me do a lot of stuff other people wouldn't. And I just like that, I guess.  
  
"Well, I think everyone needs protection but there comes a point you just kind of have to push the bird out of the nest and watch them fly, you know what I mean?" She replaced the cap on her bottle.  
  
"Yea, I know what you mean. And that's another thing; you ask me stuff and take into account what I have to say instead of just kind of ignoring me. I mean, before this all happened, I had to yell at my mom once just for her to 'let' me be friends with Frankie. It can put a girl down after awhile, you know. Big depression causer." I put the two water bottles back in the mini fridge.  
  
"I think I'll have a little talk with your mother after this is all over. I know she doesn't like me and all but this is crazy. No offense, but you shouldn't be happy that I treat you like an adult. It should come naturally, you're going to be eighteen soon, right?"  
  
"Yea."  
  
"Okay, I'm seriously going to have a little chat with your mother before that day comes. And just so you know, these past couple of weeks have been a nice adjustment for me too. As I suppose you know, about ten years ago I was in a plane crash with my husband. Everybody thought I was dead for a long time; and I missed out on all that time raising my daughter. But now that I'm back, she's all grown up and off living her own life now. So I suppose these weeks I've been making up for lost time." I smiled. She was tough on the outside but on the inside all she wanted was to go back, be with her husband and raise her daughter the right way.  
  
"Yea, well I figured it was something like that." I laughed. 


	11. Blanks

About an hour before we were scheduled to arrive at the ball, Anna and were changing at the cabin when David burst into the cabin just as we had finished.  
  
"You won't believe what I just heard from Edmund and Brooke." He announced. Anna came out of the bathroom from where she was finishing her hair and I got up from the computer where I was entertaining myself with a game of solitaire.  
  
"For the silent auction tonight, someone donated an anonymous sculpture that was only to be revealed after the biding was closed. But for precautionary measures, I'm sure, Edmund and Brooke took a little peek before they set it up and you'll never guess what it was a sculpture of."  
  
"What was it of?" Anna asked putting the rest of her hair up.  
  
"It was a faceless head with the inscription of the word PROTEUS on the base."  
  
"I wonder who donated it?" I laughed.  
  
"My, my. Chris sure has a pretty large ego to pull something like that." Anna observed.  
  
"Well, he's going to get his just reward when we're finished, though. So it will be just as sweet." I announced as David picked up the bag that held his tux and went into the bathroom to change. I'm pretty sure he would've changed right in plain sight, but I was still standing next to Anna, so he left.  
  
"Here. This is for your protection tonight." She handed me a small gun.  
  
"The first five are blanks but the rest of the clip are real. I thought just in case Chris gets a hold of this gun for some reason, he wouldn't be able to do anything with the first couple of shots. But if necessary you can just fire five times then shoot. The only things you have to remember about a gun is squeeze the trigger don't pull and to load just pull this thing here." She pulled back a piece of the gun.  
  
"Okay." I was a little nervous carrying a gun, but then I remembered; she wouldn't have given it to me if she didn't think I could handle it. I placed it in the little black purse that went along with my dress, and found that the gun didn't add as much weight as I thought it would've.  
  
"Okay." She repeated as she placed another gun into her own little bag.  
  
"Are we all set now?" David asked, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom.  
  
"Yes. I think so." Anna concluded.  
  
"Well, let's go. I don't think we want to be fashionably late, do you?" He smiled and led us out the door. 


	12. Playing the Game

We reached Wildwind a few minutes early but once we entered the foyer, we found that everyone had pretty much everyone arrived early too. The guy at the door took my coat and walked down into the front room, joining the rest of the guests. I looked around a bit and observed who was all there so far. I saw Opal and Hank in the corner looking at Vanessa and Palmer who were in the center of the room with Greenlee and Leo. Jake and some girl I had seen around before, I think her name was Mia; were also staring at Greenlee and Leo. In another corner I spotted Mateo and his mistress fooling around, and in the opposite corner Hayley was talking with Ryan. This whole scam must be doing wonders for their marriage; they kept staring at each other every so often and I knew they really wanted to be attending the ball with each other and not their 'partners'. I walked into the room, heading nowhere in particular when I felt a tap on my shoulder and someone bringing me back towards them. I looked up at who it was and saw Mateo. He placed me in the line of sight between him and Hayley.  
  
"Just stay there for awhile, okay?" He asked, taking a hefty sip from the punch cup he was clutching.  
  
"If you say so. Can I ask why though?" I shifted my weight from side to side preventing from returning the looks I'm sure Hayley was giving him.  
  
"She wants to tell me something, and I just gave her a reason." Behind me I heard a voice coming closer and closer to my back.  
  
"Oh great, Mateo. Are you really trying to put innocent Bianca in front of you just so you don't have to look at your wife? Well, congratulations to you." She barged in front of me.  
  
"You know if you weren't being such a hoe-bag with your little boy toy over there maybe I wouldn't have to."  
  
"Oh, so you can bring your slut but I can't talk to my friend, that's rich." Mateo looked around like he was getting embarrassed.  
  
"You know I think you could use some air." He took hold of her arm and led her out the door. They were really, good actors. I looked around at everyone in the room; they seemed to be convinced to say the least. Mateo 'mistress' walked off; I guess she really didn't have anyone to talk to since she was the 'reason' one of our town's most prominent super couples was calling it quits.  
  
"Bianca!" I turned around.  
  
"Hey, Leo." I answered.  
  
"Hello, Bianca." Greenlee addressed me from his side, sporting a huge rock on her finger.  
  
"So I heard you guys are engaged. Congratulations."  
  
"Yea, yea. It's pretty great. But I have a question for you now." I shrugged my shoulders and raised my eyebrows like I didn't know what he was going to ask me.  
  
"What?" I smiled.  
  
"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on now?" He matched my smile.  
  
"Later. I tell you everything later. Actually you'll find some out in awhile but until then." I drew one finger across my lips indicating a zipper.  
  
"Okay. I've waited this long; I guess I can wait some more." He smiled and walked away but I could hear Greenlee asking him what that was all about. I walked around a while more, pretending, like Anna had instructed, that I hadn't been seen for a week. I smiled at a few people here and there but stopped when Hayley and Mateo re-entered. Edmund emerged from somewhere behind me and signaled to her that it was time to start the show. She left with him, but not without smiling directly at me, which was the signal for Anna and I to start heading for the beginning of the line that was headed into the ballroom. I nodded to Anna who was off in a corner with David who was congratulating Greenlee and his brother on their impending nuptials. She gently tapped him on the shoulder and he nodded, knowing what she was doing while I walked over next to the entrance to the ballroom. I looked back for her and noticed that Leo was watching Anna walk over to me while Greenlee stuffed her big rock in David's face. When Anna finally reached me I saw Leo make a funny face as we turned into the ballroom entrance. Crossing my fingers that he wouldn't attempt anything stupid tonight and ruin the well-calculated plan we had going, I stepped onto the ballroom floor. Across from us I saw Hayley interviewing Edmund for the camera. This was our shot; Anna and I stepped purposely in front of the camera as it pulled back for a sweep across the dance floor. Making it got a good shot of us for Chris who was undoubtedly watching with my mother at home, we quickly retreated to the punch bowl directly in front of us.  
  
"Now let's just hope he got the message." Anna announced while scooping herself a glass of punch.  
  
"You know you go dance with David 'till he gets here, I'll be alright." She smiled.  
  
"All right." She clapped a hand on my shoulder and went to look for David. I was prepared to go sit down in a nearby chair and watch the people dance until Chris arrived but I felt a tap on my shoulder before I had picked a chair to sit in.  
  
"Hey, you wouldn't want to dance with me, would you?" Leo asked with a goofy grin plastered on his face.  
  
"Umm, you know, I think I was just going to sit down. Why don't you go dance with your fiancée?" I told him.  
  
"Oh, no. I want to dance with you, and it doesn't look like you're doing anything else. Come on!" He yanked on my arm and pulled me out onto the dance floor.  
  
"Fine, have it your way. Where's Greenlee?" I asked him as we started to dance with the other couples.  
  
"I don't know, probably still shoving her ring under people's noses, most likely." He joked. I peered over his shoulder and sure enough, Greenlee was shoving her rock in some poor shmuck's face.  
  
"I know you're not going to tell me everything right now, but can you at least answer one question?"  
  
"Depends. What is it?"  
  
"Where you've been for the last week?"  
  
"Yea, I can answer that with four simple words. 'At your brother's cabin." He gave me a strange look.  
  
"Why?" He asked unsteadily. Smiling, I waved a free finger in front of his eyes.  
  
"One question." I corrected him.  
  
"Fine. Be that way." He laughed. I looked over his shoulder again and saw Anna and David dancing close by. I smiled to myself; it looked like they were actually having a good time. I danced with Leo for a couple more songs then figured he'd better go find Greenlee before she shoved her ring in one too many faces. I sat down at one of the tables and ate a couple of crackers, still waiting for Chris to show up. I watched all the happy people dancing, and it reminded me of Frankie. She probably wouldn't in think of coming to something like this. I looked up at the entrance and froze in my seat. It was Chris; he was staring straight at me. Showtime. I looked over at Anna, but she was too busy with David. I guess I was going to take her seat in this little game we were going to be playing with Chris. I stood up, grabbed my purse; still trying nonchalantly to signal to Anna that he was here, and walked out the back door towards the stables. I looked back once more and saw that Anna had realized he was here and who he was following out the door. I saw her nod to me; acknowledging that I was taking her place, and mouth 'Be careful' as I headed out to the stables. 


	13. Jumping Chris

I walked through the snow and into the stables. I could hear his footsteps behind me; he was about twenty or twenty-five feet behind me. I think he thought he was actually sneaking up on me. I contained my laughter and kept walking. I opened the door and walked inside, when a plan suddenly formed in my head with Anna's basic outline of what she was supposed to do. All I had to do was keep him occupied while everyone else set him up inside. I climbed up the ladder and onto the platform above the horses without making so much as a creak in the old ladder. I listened to the door re-open and him enter. He walked around the horses for a while when finally he gave up on the whole silence thing.  
  
"Bianca, oh, Bianca. I know you're in here. So just come out and I'll give you one quick one to the head like I did with your little friend Frankie!" e laughed. I was so going enjoy watching him be caught. The moonlight shone in from outside and onto the path he was walking. He kept walking, not realizing that I wasn't even down there. He was about ten feet from me when I saw him pull a gun out from a gun holster. 'Come on, just a little closer!' I thought to myself. It was about a fifteen-foot drop from the platform to the floor and I hoped landing on him would break my fall. He was right under me now still looking in each of the stable doors. One, two, three! I jumped down, landing straight on him, sending him to the ground with me. I heard his gun clatter out of his hand and slide into a shadow under a nearby horse. While he was temporarily disabled, I took the chance and started to run to the other end of the stable. I took temporary shelter behind a post. A few minutes went by and I still didn't hear anything. I couldn't have hurt him that bad, I cautiously walked over to the spot where I had jumped him, but he was gone. I spun around but it was too late; a sharp hand caught me right across the face and knocked me to the ground. I looked up and saw the ghostly outline of Chris Stamp standing over me. 


	14. BANG!

"Do you really think a seventeen year old girl can knock out little old me?" He laughed as he hunched over me.  
  
"You can't shoot me; you don't have a gun." I stated.  
  
"Oh yes. Congratulations on knocking the gun out of the cold-blooded killer's hand, big deal. I've still got righty and lefty here, now don't I?" He reached towards me, preparing to strangle me. I was about to beat him over the head with my purse when I remembered what was hiding in my purse. Before he reached me, I tried to open my purse and get the gun that lie inside but he snatched it from my hands first.  
  
"What have we got here?" He stopped and opened the purse for me. He smiled and pulled out the gun.  
  
"Did Anna give you this? Not real smart to give guns to kids, but I'll have to thank her later, personally." He stood up and aimed the gun at my head.  
  
"Any last words?" He asked, still grinning like an idiot.  
  
Really short chapter but I gotta leave you hanging for a second! Sorry. 


End file.
